Man fires some 50 shots at California mall parking lot

Man fires some 50 shots at California mall parking lot

NEWPORT BEACH, California - The Associated Press

A man was arrested Saturday after firing about 50 shots in the parking lot of a
Southern California
shopping mall, prompting a lockdown of stores crowded with holiday shoppers.

Marcos Gurrola, 42, of Garden Grove was
taken into custody by bicycle police officers patrolling around the open-air
Fashion Island
mall around 4:30 p.m., police spokeswoman Cathy Lowe said. She said he fired into
the air and onto the ground in the parking lot near a Macy's department
store.

No one was injured, but the gunfire caused
panic, coming a day after a gunman killed 26 children and adults at a
Connecticut elementary school, and days after a deadly mall shooting in
Oregon.

The mall was crowded with holiday shoppers
and the parking lot was full. Witnesses said they ran, screaming and ducking for
cover.

"It's a miracle nobody got injured," said
Sven Maric, who said he was celebrating his wife's birthday at a restaurant
patio about 50 yards away. "The bullets had to land somewhere, and he shot so
many."

Bret McGaughey, 22, of Laguna Beach, said
he was with his mom in the Apple store when shoppers ran to the rear of
the store as employees locked the front entrance. He estimated that up to 100
people stayed in the back of the store for about 30 minutes until Apple
employees announced that police said it was safe to reopen the doors.

Gurrola was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, Lowe
said.

There was no telephone listing for
Gurrola.

On Tuesday, a gunman at an Oregon shopping mall killed two people and wounded
a third amid a holiday crowd estimated at 10,000 people.

Clackamas County authorities are still trying to determine why the gunman
opened fire before killing himself.

The suburban Portland mall was closed for
two days before reopening on Friday.